Jeff Rasley

Jeff Rasley lives in Indianapolis on the White River with his wife Alicia and Poppy cat. Jeff has attended Indianapolis First Friends since 2010. He previously served on the Ministry and Counsel Committee and led the Adult Discussion-Coffee Circle group for several years.

Jeff’s commitment to social activism began in high school when he co-founded the Goshen Walk for Hunger. In law school he fought for renters’ rights and organized the first rent strike in Indiana as president of the Indianapolis Tenants Association. As a young lawyer Jeff founded free legal clinics at two inner-city churches in Indianapolis. He was lead counsel on class action suits for prisoners, which resulted in the construction of two new jails in Central Indiana. He spent five days working for NOLA Habitat for Humanity after Katrina. Jeff was the lead plaintiff in a class action of residents along the White River, which resulted in a judgment requiring remediation of the river after an industrial chemical spill. Jeff is the president of the Basa Village Foundation, secretary of the Scientech Foundation, board member of the Indianapolis Peace and Justice Center, and co-founder of the Jeff and Alicia Rasley Internship Program for the ACLU of Indiana. He has served as a director or officer on many other organizations, including the Friends Educational Trust, Visiting Nurse Service, and University of Chicago Alumni Board.

Jeff is a graduate of University of Chicago magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, All-Academic All-State Football, letter winner in swimming and football; JD Indiana University Law School cum laude, Moot Court, Indiana Law Review; MDiv Christian Theological Seminary magna cum laude, co-valedictorian and Faculty Award Scholar. He has been admitted to the Indiana, US District, and US Supreme Court Bars.

Jeff’s thirteenth book was published in 2022, and numerous articles he has written have been published in academic and mainstream periodicals, including Newsweek, Chicago Magazine, ABA Journal, Family Law Review, and Friends Journal. He has appeared as a featured guest on over 150 radio and podcast programs to discuss culturally sensitive development projects in Nepal, Himalayan mountaineering, and memoir writing.

Jeff was named a Kentucky Colonel and is a recipient of a Key to the City of Indianapolis. He received the Man of the Year award from the Arthur Jordan YMCA and the Alumni Service Award from the University of Chicago.

Jeff is a partner in Midsummer Books Publishing and the US representative of the Nepal-based Adventure GeoTreks Ltd. He teaches a class about philanthropy at Butler University and leads workshops on memoir writing at Indiana Writers Center.